The Yorks finally did something that made sense. And you haven't been able to say that very often in the nine years they've owned the San Francisco 49ers.

They had to fire Mike Nolan. And they did it.

Ten months too late. But they did it.

They really had to make this move. They couldn't flush the rest of this season down the toilet and act like a win over Seattle or some other mediocre opponent was meaningful. They couldn't ignore the growing outrage from their fans.

The 49ers weren't showing any improvement; in fact, they look worse every week. Nolan's logic was becoming more tortured; the team was becoming irrelevant on the national scene, a laughing stock locally. There was no reason not to fire Nolan.

So congratulations John, Denise and Jed. You finally got something right. Now let's see if you can get the critical next de cision — the crucial next three months — right. The fate of your wayward franchise only hangs in the balance.

This whole lousy downward spiral was started with John York's crazy, angry decision to fire Steve Mariucci back in 2002, after the 49ers made it to the second round of the playoffs. It's been a long, ugly slide ever since.

I don't have any problem with Mike Singletary becoming the head coach, nor do I have any great expectations. With a structure already in place — Mike Martz running the offense and Greg Manusky running the defense — Singletary can do what he does best. Motivate. Inflame passions. Demand accountability. So maybe the 49ers will see a bump in their performance.

But unless the 49ers see an astonishing turnaround, this is just a stop gap move. At the end of the season, they should start over. They need to hire someone with a big picture, a philosophy, a plan. And — though it will pain the Yorks to admit it — they need to reach out to someone who will reclaim the team's legacy they have squandered.

The Yorks, who experienced the great 49ers years but were never in the inner circle, have destroyed the identity of the 49ers. They've done it so completely that it appears that they did it out of spite — to ruin what Eddie DeBartolo created.

The Yorks had a falling out with Bill Walsh, exiling him from the building. They fired Mariucci, who had West Coast ties. They dumped Walsh's handpicked quarterback Jeff Garcia. They floundered around and then tried to create their own legacy with Dick Nolan's son, which was a transparent attempt to find a new direction but was a complete failure.

Here's what I'd like to see the Yorks do: Hire Mike Holmgren as the general manager.

Holmgren is clearly burnt out as a coach and his lame duck status has been a disaster in Seattle. In my perfect world, I'd like to see Jim Mora take over right now so Holmgren can spend some recharging time with his wife Kathy. Then he can come home and take over the franchise. Let Holmgren make the decisions. Let him hire a coach out of the Walsh tradition. It doesn't have to be a guy with head coaching experience: Tom Rathman is quietly putting together an excellent career as an NFL assistant. There are still plenty of people in the league with ties to Walsh, who understand the team's lost identity.

Nolan was never going to be that guy. He didn't ever seem particularly mindful or interested in the 49ers legacy of greatness. He never made much of an attempt to connect with the 49ers of the past — something that Mariucci tried very hard to do.

And worst of all for the man who was sitting in the chair once inhabited by Bill Walsh, Nolan didn't understand anything about offense. He was detrimental to quarterbacks. Of all Nolan's failing, his worst crime was his unforgivable treatment of Alex Smith last season. He took the team's franchise player, a player he had personally selected, and did all he could to crush the kid.

That was a firing offense and that Smith treatment happened a full year ago. It's been a tortuous process to bring the Yorks to the obvious decision. But the most critical thing is what they do for an encore.